It took a while, but Rude had finally been able to convince Reno to stay at his place. They'd each had a few drinks in silence before Rude headed off to bed. Reno sat at the small table in Rude's kitchen as he traced the lid of his bottle with a finger. He'd been on countless missions, some which had turned out much worse that the one he'd just been on. Bringing down Sector 7 came to mind. Sure, he'd managed to pull it off, but he got himself seriously hurt in the process. In fact, that was how Elena got the job in the first place. With Reno out of commission for those few weeks, Tseng realized they needed to find a new recruit.

Reno's eyes began to burn, and he looked up at the clock. It was much later than he'd realized. Quickly throwing back what was left in his bottle, he headed off to the sofa in Rude's living room, kicked off his shoes, and stared at the ceiling until he fell asleep.

Tseng headed over to Elena's apartment, breakfast in hand. He stopped at her door and hesitated. He'd hate to wake her up by knocking…surely she would be up by now though, right? After wavering back and forth for a moment, he took out the key to her apartment and let himself in.

He set the food down on the coffee table and looked around. Tentatively, he made his way down the hallway to see Elena curled up in bed, still fast asleep. The situation was way more awkward than he had expected it to be. But, he was here, and all he had to do was make sure she was still alive, have a quick look at her neck, and then leave her to enjoy the breakfast he'd brought.

Quietly crossing over to her bed, he could her quiet, rhythmic breathing. She was most definitely alive. Now to check the swelling. Tseng brushed Elena's hair off her neck as gently as he could. The bruise still looked pretty nasty, shiny from the amount of swelling underneath. But, Elena had been right. There was no need for her to see a doctor. It wasn't infected, and it hadn't gotten any worse. He took out a cure materia and cast a healing spell, hoping that would speed up the healing process a bit.

He placed the green orb back into his pocket, and began to turn around as he heard Elena stir. "…Tseng?"

He turned around and looked at Elena's sleepy and confused face. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."

"You didn't. Well, actually I guess you did, but it's okay."

Tseng quirked his eyebrow a bit. "I just came to make sure you were alright."

Elena's fingers went to her neck. "Still a little sore, but it's feeling much better. Thanks for the cure."

"You're welcome, Elena. Go back to sleep."

Elena sat up a little. "No, it's okay. Stay, I'll make you breakfast."

Tseng smiled a little. How very Elena. "It's all taken care of."

"You made breakfast?"

"Well, I bought some. It's on your table when you get up. If you need anything, let me know. I mean it."

"No, don't leave yet…I need to talk to you."

"We can discuss the mission later, Elena."

Elena looked up at him. "Please, at least stay and have breakfast with me. I'm already awake."

Tseng sighed softly. He could do that.

Reno rolled over onto his side and stared at the wall. Finally, he gave up on the idea of going back to sleep. Sitting up, and rubbing at his eyes, he heard Rude in the kitchen.

"Morning," Rude said, noticing Reno sitting up.

"Yeah, yeah…"

Rude had poured himself a bowl of cereal and sat down at the table, still strewn with beer bottles from the previous night.

Reno stood and stretched, making his way to the kitchen to help himself to a bowl of cereal as well.

Rude looked as if he was going to say something for several long moments, but in the end, he took another heaping spoonful of cereal.

"I'm okay. Well, I slept like crap on your sofa – thanks – but I'm okay, really."

Rude set his spoon back in his bowl. "Good. And sorry about the sofa."

The well deserved day had gone by all too fast for everyone. But, as usual, Rude was the first to arrive at the office the next day.

Turning on the light, he went over yesterday's events in his head. Reno had started to act a little more like himself by last night. However, he was still a little nervous about everyone being together in the office. There would be tension. Rude didn't like tension.

He had just sat down to fill out paperwork for the past mission when Elena and Tseng walked out of the elevator.

"Elena, how are you?"

"Good, Rude. I'm…good." She smiled.

Rude nodded and gave her a small smile. Soon, all three of them were busily scratching out their accounts of the mission.

Several minutes passed before Reno walked in. "Morning," he greeted them.

Elena looked up, and she and Reno stared at each until he abruptly sat down at his desk and shuffled around some clutter.

Elena frowned, still watching Reno. They hadn't really talked since they'd split up searching for Rene. Suddenly, she had an idea…

"Excuse me, I left something in my car…" she said, walking up to the elevator.

Just as she hoped, Reno silently stood and got into the elevator as well.

Tseng and Rude looked at each other as the door closed.

"How is he?" asked Tseng.

Rude nodded his head slowly. "He's better."

Elena and Reno rode the elevator down to the parking deck in silence. Getting off, she looked at Reno slightly apologetically. "I really didn't need anything from my car."

"I know."

They stood looking at each other for a few minutes.

"I-I'm so sorry, Elena. I'm sorry my note gave you away."

"Reno…"

"And if something worse had happened to you because of it, I-"

"Reno, stop. It's okay. I'm okay. And you know what?"

"What?"

"I'm really a Turk."

Reno gave her a funny look. "Yes…"

Elena smiled. "No, Reno…I really am a Turk!"

Reno finally understood what she was getting at. "Elena, you have been for almost two months."

"And I will be for a very long time, so you'd better get used to it."

Reno grinned. "I'll try. Say, you and Tseng were looking a little chummy this morning…"

Elena socked his arm and glared good naturedly at him before throwing her arms around his waist and giving him a hug. "Reno, the things you told me in your note meant a lot to me."

Reno hugged her back. "I…"

They broke apart. Reno scratched at his head and looked at Elena with a smile. "Ready to head back up?"

"Absolutely."

A/N: Well, there it is. I told you'd I'd finish! I have very fond memories of writing this story, oh, two years ago, even though I look back at it now and kind of cringe. Zing? Roth? AGP? WTF? But, I hope even though it was a bit silly, that it was enjoyable. And I really, really am sorry it took so long.

I would LOVE to hear what you think. This is the first story I've actually finished.

I don't know what happened, but all the previous chapters lost the markers I had put between scene changes, making it a little confusing to read. Sorry bout that. I'll get around to fixing that.